BBC #3, His Dark Materials, book 3, The Amber Spyglass

*AGAIN, IF YOU HAVEN'T READ BOOK 2, THIS REVIEW WILL BE A SPOILER*
And even if you have read book 2, this will contain spoilers for book 3.

Controversy first!

I'm not sure if Philip Pullman meant this series to be a opposing side to Narnia or not, but it sure does relate a negative opinion of churches and God. Near the end, Mary Malone explains how she found out there was no God. God, the Authority, dies (notably Lyra and Will were actually trying to help him, not kill him). The Angel next to God is killed by Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter. The Authority had locked all the dead spirits in a state of perpetual misery, regardless of how they had lived their lives. The church is pretty much destroyed in Lyra's world. Seems pretty anti-religious to me.

However, since my beliefs are very different than the beliefs which the main characters find so abominable, it's really easy for me to look past that part. Mary Malone said "I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are." She was using this as a reason not to believe in God or the church, but that logic doesn't work for me. I believe judging people based alone on what we feel is good and evil is not our job, that there is a layer deeper which we can't see. Mrs. Coulter is a good example of this. All you see from her in the first 2 books is hate and cruelty in the name of the church. Then she turns around and gives her life to save her daughter and the world. The under layer had the potential for her to do good things, as well as evil.

I feel like the flaw to the argument against the church is that Pullman depicts the church as black and a world without the church as white. In reality, it's much like Mary's statement. Good and evil are names for what actions the people in the church do, not what the church itself is.

If you're religious and are worried about what your kids will do with the information they get in these books, discuss it with them. Helps to have read it yourself first though. I wouldn't forbid it, but hey, that's my opinion. You can raise your children however you want.

Again, once we move past the controversy you find a very delightful book. I found the beginning of this one to be a little slower than the beginning of the other two, but it was still good. Lyra and Will's adventures through the worlds--including the world of the dead and the world of the mulefa-- is intriguing. I did think the part just before the ending was almost anti-climatic. The whole story based itself on Lyra and Will saving the day: the knife destroying the Authority etc. Lyra and Will tried to SAVE the Authority. He died because he was old. It was Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter who destroyed the Metatron. And all Will and Lyra had to do to "save" the world in the end was kiss and then give each other up. Yeah, the giving each other up was hard. They loved each other. But after all the adventures they went through, it wasn't as BIG as I was expecting.

I do have to admit when they gave each other up, I almost cried. So it was a tear jerker. The books make you come to love Lyra and Will and see their love for each other. I enjoyed that part of the ending, even if it was sad. I also think that since the book explained a little bit more about what happened to Lyra when she went home, it should have done the same with Will. But not the worst.

I really recommend this book. It makes you think about beliefs while wrapping you into a grand adventure with two incredible kids. His Dark Materials is a good read.

BBC #3: His Dark Materials, book 1, The Golden Compass

Yesterday after posting I began ransacking my apartment to try and find one of the books on the list to start reading. I wanted to begin right away! It didn't take me very long to stumble across The Golden Compass.

The Golden Compass is part of a triology by Philip Pullman called His Dark Materials. I've never read any of the books but I do remember the controversy when it came out as a movie. People said it was written as an anti-religious book--an opposite to CS. Lewis's Narnia series. I never watched the movie--not because I was worried about the "hidden meaning" but because I was busy and didn't watch very movies at the time. Didn't think about it again until yesterday.

Having finished the book, I can say that I don't feel like it's an "evil" book. Sure, the bad guys are an organization in the church--sometimes even the church itself, but you can read accurate historical fictions where the same happened. The whole church system is set up different than it is in real life anyway. I still am trying to wrap my head around it. There only seems to be one church instead of lots of churches and the church runs everything in Europe--almost like it was before the reformation. Also, the church seems more of a analogy for human thought--belief systems etc. than to stand for an actual church.

The other part that might seem "evil" is the fact that the souls of all the humans are split--they have their own body and then they have their daemon--a creature that is literally connected to them. It's part of their soul. It can't be very far from them. If the daemon dies, the person will die and vice versa. Children's daemons can be any animal. An adult's daemon only has one form. They are called familiars at one point. Not really evil. Just fantasy and word choice. Oh, and there are witches. But well, Harry Potter and hundreds of other books we let our children read would also be "evil" if that's where we draw the line.

Moving beyond the controversy, I think the story line is compelling. The main character, Lyra, is likable. I won't complain that the hero is a little girl. She's young, smart, and a story teller. Everything she hears comes out of her mouth very different than when she heard it--unless she's talking to an adult. Then she'll tell the truth. Most of the time. She makes mistakes and tries to fix her mistakes. She's human--a normal little girl who does amazing things. As a kid, I probably would have wanted to be like her. Hey, in some ways I still do!

I found the beginning of the book hard to follow because of the terminology. I felt like instead of using "normal" words, Pullman had to have a new word for almost everything. Anbaric current or power is electricity. It took me a long time to figure that out. A gyptian is pretty much a gypsy. Close, but not quite the same. Countries and peoples are also used differently. I'm not sure exactly when the book is supposed to be taking place, but Zepplins and aeroships (etc) are common. Between those and the fact the "church" and government system is set up differently made my brain have a hard time focusing. Most people could probably breeze by it, but because I'm very analytical, it was hard for me. I wanted to be able to understand it all! It's only in the beginning of the book that it really bugged me anyway.

The story line makes up for it. By the middle of the book I breezed by the words and figured out what some of them meant. As the book continued I got pulled more and more into the story line. I didn't get into it as much as I do some books, but I was definitely pulled in. I was so enthralled in it I read the last 100 pages or so straight without a break.

I believe the biggest theme in the book is people fear what they don't understand. I believe the church is used as an analogy to basic human beliefs. If something doesn't fit into the belief paradigm, it must be bad or evil. Using a church makes people's beliefs contrast more with their fears. I think people have locked onto the church vs. the truth aspect in the book ignoring the greater moral: our paradigms vs. the unknown. The church, representing human paradigms, gets in the way of Lyra and others trying to find the truth behind Dust--the unknown. Only a child, someone not set into their belief pattern, could open their eyes enough to see the unknown can bring great goodness.

In real life, we can see examples throughout history and even in modern times of us doing the same. Whites held onto their paradigms of racism because of their fear of change--their fear of other races. Women weren't allowed to vote in America until the 1900's because men were afraid of what they would do in the political realm. Rock and Roll music was considered "horrible" because it was hard and loud. The bible was only in Latin until Martin Luther translated it because the church was afraid the day to day people couldn't understand it--or would understand it differently. People were afraid the affects Harry Potter would have on children because it talked about... (oh no!) witches and wizards.

So maybe using the church as the belief system was the cause of the controversy or maybe it was something else. My opinion is that the book is good, wholesome entertainment. If your worried about it, read it with your child. Or read it before they do so you can discuss it with them. In no way would I forbid it though--that would kind of play into the "fear what you don't understand" theme.

End result? I enjoyed this book. I have 2 more books to finish before I finish His Dark Materials, but I expect I will enjoy them too.